This is a competitive renewal application for T32 support for early graduate training in the neurosciences at the University of Virginia. The Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP) at the University of Virginia is an interdepartmental program that offers an interdisciplinary course of study leading to the Ph.D. in Neuroscience. The Program brings together 64 faculty members from 13 departments in the School of Medicine and College of Arts and Sciences to provide a comprehensive and unified program for graduate study. The overall mission of the neuroscience training program is to train Ph.D. candidates to become outstanding biomedical scientists in order to contribute to a diverse research workforce. The training grant fills a critical niche by supporting trainees in the neurosciences primarily during their second year of training. It is the only training grant at our institution that is dedicated to early-stage neuroscience graduate training. The disciplines and expertise represented range from molecular and cellular to behavioral and clinical. The breadth and depth of our faculty provide a training environment that is both unique and innovative. After building a foundation of shared knowledge and competencies for all trainees, the program embraces a trainee-specific program that is built around an Independent Development Plan (IDP). The IDP allows each trainee to craft and optimize his/her training and career trajectory together with interactive faculty advisory committees. Students are exposed to topics of human health from the earliest stages of the program in systems and disease-based courses. Careful monitoring of each trainee is provided by multiple oversight committees. Moreover, feedback mechanisms between all members of the program afford an efficient means for ongoing improvement of the program. This NIGMS-supported program has been quite successful during its past period of support producing graduates that have embraced all aspects of the modern biomedical workforce. The trainees leave the program prepared for the challenges of the current workforce and have excelled in their individual careers. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Virginia is an interdepartmental program that offers an interdisciplinary course of study leading to the Ph.D. in Neuroscience. The Program brings together 64 faculty members from 13 departments in the School of Medicine and College of Arts and Sciences to provide a comprehensive and unified program for graduate study. The overall mission of the neuroscience training program is to train Ph.D. candidates to become outstanding biomedical scientists in order to contribute to a diverse research workforce.